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THE STRATEGIC ROLE OF COMMUNICATION IN AN ORGANISATION
Introduction
Strategic communication has undergone a profound transformation, evolving from its origins in
governmental and military objective-driven programmes to a complex, multi-disciplinary field
encompassing public relations, marketing, health communication, and financial communication
(Holtzhausen & Zerfass 2015:3). The modernist paradigm, which conceptualised strategic
communication as a linear process emanating from an organisation's strategic plan to achieve
predetermined objectives, has been increasingly challenged by the realities of a digitally networked
society (Holtzhausen & Zerfass 2013:283). The emergence of interactive communication
technologies, particularly the Internet of Things (IoT), has fundamentally altered the communication
landscape, fragmenting audiences, multiplying message delivery platforms, and creating what
Tindall and Holtzhausen (2011:75) describe as a challenge in "coordinating and integrating the
communication activities of organisations".
This essay critically examines the changing landscape of strategic communication through two
interconnected lenses. First, it explores the relevance of a postmodern perspective to strategic
communication in the current multi-voiced organisational context, considering the impact of IoT and
other interactive communication technologies. Second, it analyses the changing roles of strategic
communication professionals, with specific reference to their evolution from specialists and
managers to professionals of social capital, and how IoT influences these evolving roles. Drawing on
the prescribed literature, this essay argues that the postmodern turn in strategic communication,
driven by IoT-enabled many-to-many communication networks, necessitates a fundamental
reconfiguration of both communication theory and professional practice.
The Postmodern Turn in Strategic Communication
Modernist Foundations and Their Limitations
The modernist understanding of strategic communication, rooted in early transmission models,
conceptualised communication as a linear, one-way process of message transmission from sender to
receiver (Holtzhausen & Zerfass 2015:4). This perspective was subsequently refined through
two-way symmetrical and asymmetrical communication models in public relations literature, yet
retained an underlying assumption that communication could be strategically controlled and directed
from a central organisational source (Holtzhausen & Zerfass 2013:286). Farwell (2012:2) defines
strategic communication as "objective-driven communication", reflecting this modernist orientation
where communication serves as a tool to achieve predetermined organisational goals.
However, as Holtzhausen (2002:252) has argued, public relations theory and practice remain "based
on a modernist understanding of organisation" that privileges management perspectives and a
strategic focus. This modernist framework has been critiqued for its emphasis on "strategy and
management" and its rejection of "the manager as a rational being who has the ability to determine
organisational outcomes through strategies, which are viewed as discursive techniques used to
enhance the power of some corporate actors" (Holtzhausen 2002:253). The postmodern critique
challenges this hegemonic practice, arguing that modern public relations "interpellates practitioners
into the system to legitimise the perspectives and actions of corporate managers as objective
knowledge, particularly through discursive practices in organisational media" (Holtzhausen
2002:255).
THE STRATEGIC ROLE OF COMMUNICATION IN AN ORGANISATION
Introduction
Strategic communication has undergone a profound transformation, evolving from its origins in
governmental and military objective-driven programmes to a complex, multi-disciplinary field
encompassing public relations, marketing, health communication, and financial communication
(Holtzhausen & Zerfass 2015:3). The modernist paradigm, which conceptualised strategic
communication as a linear process emanating from an organisation's strategic plan to achieve
predetermined objectives, has been increasingly challenged by the realities of a digitally networked
society (Holtzhausen & Zerfass 2013:283). The emergence of interactive communication
technologies, particularly the Internet of Things (IoT), has fundamentally altered the communication
landscape, fragmenting audiences, multiplying message delivery platforms, and creating what
Tindall and Holtzhausen (2011:75) describe as a challenge in "coordinating and integrating the
communication activities of organisations".
This essay critically examines the changing landscape of strategic communication through two
interconnected lenses. First, it explores the relevance of a postmodern perspective to strategic
communication in the current multi-voiced organisational context, considering the impact of IoT and
other interactive communication technologies. Second, it analyses the changing roles of strategic
communication professionals, with specific reference to their evolution from specialists and
managers to professionals of social capital, and how IoT influences these evolving roles. Drawing on
the prescribed literature, this essay argues that the postmodern turn in strategic communication,
driven by IoT-enabled many-to-many communication networks, necessitates a fundamental
reconfiguration of both communication theory and professional practice.
The Postmodern Turn in Strategic Communication
Modernist Foundations and Their Limitations
The modernist understanding of strategic communication, rooted in early transmission models,
conceptualised communication as a linear, one-way process of message transmission from sender to
receiver (Holtzhausen & Zerfass 2015:4). This perspective was subsequently refined through
two-way symmetrical and asymmetrical communication models in public relations literature, yet
retained an underlying assumption that communication could be strategically controlled and directed
from a central organisational source (Holtzhausen & Zerfass 2013:286). Farwell (2012:2) defines
strategic communication as "objective-driven communication", reflecting this modernist orientation
where communication serves as a tool to achieve predetermined organisational goals.
However, as Holtzhausen (2002:252) has argued, public relations theory and practice remain "based
on a modernist understanding of organisation" that privileges management perspectives and a
strategic focus. This modernist framework has been critiqued for its emphasis on "strategy and
management" and its rejection of "the manager as a rational being who has the ability to determine
organisational outcomes through strategies, which are viewed as discursive techniques used to
enhance the power of some corporate actors" (Holtzhausen 2002:253). The postmodern critique
challenges this hegemonic practice, arguing that modern public relations "interpellates practitioners
into the system to legitimise the perspectives and actions of corporate managers as objective
knowledge, particularly through discursive practices in organisational media" (Holtzhausen
2002:255).
